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Tipped off to the following from a headline at the Drudge Report today:

Vast majority of porn sites track user data, often without telling you

More than 9 in 10 pornography websites send user data to at least one third party, a new study has found.

Google tracks users on nearly 75% of the porn sites studied by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

And going incognito may not always help.

“Even if you’re using a browser with an enhanced privacy setting, like Google Chrome’s incognito mode, you’re still susceptible to online tracking,” according to a summary of the study.

“People often assume that using private browsing modes protects them, but that primarily limits your browsing history from being stored on your personal computer,” said one of the researchers, doctoral candidate Jennifer R. Henrichsen, in a university press release published July 24. “In reality, private browsing modes offer little to no protection against tracking more generally. The ecosystem for tracking is vast and ever-changing, so it is incredibly difficult to truly avoid being tracked online.”

The researchers analyzed over 22,000 porn sites and found 93% of them sent user data to at least one third party. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/os-ne-porn-sites-track-user-data-20190815-4vadt77nyfdqzbiv2c6jn3zfp4-story.html

And, of course, data that is tracked and supplied to other parties can be used against someone. Plus, data can be hacked.

This happened with a pro-adultery website a while ago: NBC: ‘Exposed in Ashley Madison Hack? Here’s What to Do Now’.

Related to that, the Continuing Church of God put out the following video on our Bible New ProphecyYouTube channel:

Ashley Madison: Your Sins Will Find You Out

It pornography harmless fun otherwise or is it damaging?

The BBC reported the following:

Easy access to online porn is ‘damaging’ men’s health, says NHS therapist

Angela Gregory says more and more men in their late teens and early 20s are suffering from erectile dysfunction.

She puts the blame on people becoming addicted to watching online porn.

There are no official figures but she says a lot of the time it is via smartphones and laptops.

“What I’ve seen over the last 16 years, particularly the last five years, is an increase in the amount of younger men being referred,” she said.

“Our experience is that historically men that were referred to our clinic with problems with erectile dysfunction were older men whose issues were related to diabetes, MS, cardio vascular disease.

“These younger men do not have organic disease, they’ve already been tested by their GP and everything is fine.

“So one of the first assessment questions I’d always ask now is about pornography and masturbatory habit because that can be the cause of their issues about maintaining an erection with a partner.” August 15, 2016 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37058019/easy-access-to-online-porn-is-damaging-mens-health-says-nhs-therapist

This is just another problem with pornography. Pornography is bad.

What is it?

Porn is any material (words, sounds, pictures) designed to be sexually arousing. Anatomy pictures may be sexually explicit, but not intended to be arousing. That’s the difference.

How big is the porn industry?

Almost all adults have seen some type of pornographic material by choice or accident. Since the arrival of the internet, pornography is far more readily available and less regulated.

Around 25 percent of all internet searches are for pornographic content, and on average almost 30,000 people are looking at porn at any given second.

Shockingly, an investigation by the London School of Economics found that 90 percent of youngsters between eight and 16 have accessed porn online, many without meaning to find it, and most while doing their homework. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/Jq395BwWdx9wpY7cCnYWcP/porn accessed 02/05/2016

While I knew that pornography fueled the early rise of the internet, the amount of pornography searches seems astronomical. This is wrong for people to do and is not good for them.

Notice some statements in the Bible from Jesus and the Apostle Paul:

27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Adultery is prohibited by the seventh commandment (see also What Did Jesus Teach About the Ten Commandments?).

Jesus and the Apostle Paul warned against attempting to provoke, stir up, or mentally succumb to sexual lust. Thus, they are also condemning pornography, including dressing inappropriately (see also 1 Timothy 2:8-9).

Notice something from the Apostle James:

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:12-15)

When one flees sexual immorality, one resists temptation. Notice also something else from James:

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:7-8)

People are not to be ‘double-minded,’–they need to keep away from pornography. Satan wants humans to accept the falsehoods associated with pornography.

The Old Testament also had prohibitions related to pornography:

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
He who despises the gain of oppressions,
Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,
Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
And shuts his eyes from seeing evil:
16 He will dwell on high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure. (Isaiah 33:15-16)

1 I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? (Job 31:1).

24 To keep you from the evil woman,
From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
26 For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
27 Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared? (Proverbs 6:24-28)

26 Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful neighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations on the hills in the fields. (Jeremiah 13:26-27)

15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
Pressing him to your bottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on his nakedness!
16 You are filled with shame instead of glory.
You also — drink!
And be exposed as uncircumcised!
The cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you,
And utter shame will be on your glory. (Habakkuk 2:15-16)

How porn-purveyors view pornography sounds a lot like “lustful neighings.” The righteous turn their eyes away from pornography. Many are not ashamed and will not blush when they are overly-exposing themselves. No one is clearly to trick someone into seeing their nakedness, including using intoxicating substances to do that.

Notice also the following:

How is Pornography Harmful?

Frank York, former editor in Public Policy for Focus on the Family (a pro-family political and educational organization) as well as writer and researcher on pornography, and Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel, Concerned Women for America, assert, “The most common damage, the one that affects everyone who views porn, is that it warps the person’s perception of people, relationships, and sex” (2002, p. 14). Pornography teaches unrealistic and inappropriate sexual expectations, decreases satisfaction with monogamy and lowers family loyalties, objectifies and degrades women, links sex with violence and children, encourages promiscuity, and increases susceptibility to sexually acting out in ways harmful to others (Cline, 2002).

Gary R. Brooks (1995), psychologist and assistant chief of the psychology service at the Department of Veteran Affairs in Temple, Texas, calls the affect of pornography on people’s perceptions “The Centerfold Syndrome.” In his book, The Centerfold Syndrome, Dr. Brooks (1995) explains that pornography alters people’s perceptions in the following ways:

• Voyeurism. Pornography teaches its users to focus on looking at people instead of forming real relationships.

• Objectification. Men, women, and children are portrayed as sexual objects, whose worth lies in the size and shape of their body parts.

• Validation. After repeatedly seeing people in an idealized form, pornography users begin to judge people’s worth by their physical attractiveness. They feel masculine or feminine only when they are with beautiful people, and are less likely to be committed when their partner goes through life-changes (age, childbearing, etc.) that decrease their youthfulness or good looks.

• Trophyism. Romantic partners are trophies to be displayed and owned, not to be treated as real people.

• Fear of true intimacy. Because people portrayed in pornographic pictures have no demands or expectations beyond sexual-arousal and pleasure, pornography users do not learn how to form real relationships with others. They do not learn how to be selfless, sacrificing, and committed; thus, they come to fear true intimacy that requires them to relate emotionally and spiritually.

The sexual promiscuity encouraged by pornography also increases out-of wedlock pregnancies and the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Teens are particularly vulnerable to this. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Public Education (2001): “Adolescents have the highest STD rates. Approximately one fourth of sexually active adolescents become infected with an STD each year, accounting for 3 million cases, and people under the age of 25 account for two thirds of all STDs in the United States” (¶ 2). (Use and Harms of Pornography. http://foreverfamilies.byu.edu/Article.aspx?a=140 viewed 08/25/13)

In pornography, those shown in it, often are falsely implying that they will provide sexual ‘love’ to those who they do not care for at all. Generally speaking (for those not forced into it), they just are in it for the money. They generally have no intention to provide what they pretend.

The Continuing Church of God put out this sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

Pornography, False Comfort, and False Religion

Here is a link to the sermon: Pornography, False Comfort, and False Religion.

Pornography, online or otherwise, damages men and women, physically, emotionally, sexually, and spiritually.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 17th, 2019 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Doctrine.

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• NBC: ‘Exposed in Ashley Madison Hack? Here’s What to Do Now’
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